NMSU Carlsbad hosts 3rd annual Taste of Culture

CARLSBAD >> Nothing calls people together like food, and for those Carlsbad residents wishing for a taste of adventure, New Mexico state University Carlsbad has just the thing.

The third annual Taste of Culture invites students, staff and the community to indulge their culinary curiosity and explore diverse cultures. An annual event that Khushroo Ghadiali, director of publications and marketing, has called a tradition on campus, the Taste of Culture allows guests to opportunity to taste dishes from countries world wide.

"This came out of a stakeholders committee meeting," said librarian and Taste of Culture co-organizer Akilah Nosakhere. "The idea was to strengthen our relationship with the community, celebrate our diversity. And the best way to that is with food." Since its 2012 inception, the event has been growing. Approximately 400 people joined the journey in 2013, strolling along booths full of information and flavors with event-issued passports to commemorate the countries visited.

This year's event is co-sponsored with the Associated Students of NMSU Carlsbad and will exhibit food from 17 countries.

Luz Moreno, who was born in Columbia, will offer Columbian coffee to guests.

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"It's important for the community to know or be aware of our diversity and for me to learn and share a little of my country," Moreno said. Her coffee, she hopes, will be a perfect complement to NMSU Carlsbad President John Gratton's very popular Canadian-inspired cookies.

A native of Canada, Gratton and his wife will man their own booth featuring delicacies that exhibit the diversity of Canada's cultural history.

"It's wonderful to see that moment, when people think I don't know if I really want to try this, but once they do, they say 'I want some more'," said Ghadiali.

The event begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 1 in room 103. Guests are urged to arrive early as treats go fast. The event is free to the public but the university will be accepting donations to the scholarship fund which goes toward student scholarships.